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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26105668">A Touch of Magic</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/booklover13/pseuds/booklover13'>booklover13</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Magic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:09:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,779</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26105668</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/booklover13/pseuds/booklover13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>How was Nile supposed to realize she was the only one who knew about Magic?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>How was Nile supposed to realize she was the only one who knew about Magic?</p><hr/><p>Magic lives and grows the slow intentionality of a tree, flows and redirects like a river, and connects to places, moments meanings like people do. </p><p>All magic comes down 3 things: Power, Will, and Connection.</p><hr/><p>Nile is seven the first time she experiences magic.</p><p>Kendra is her best friend and just laying there broken when the shadow comes back for a second pass. She would be frozen if not for what Dad told her before he shipped out.</p><p>The words were lost, but the message, the meaning remained. Do what you can to help. Be kind. Don’t ever stop fighting for yourself.</p><p>So as the shadow came towards them again Nile jumped up, arms spread wide ready to intercept. She would not let it hurt her friend again, and while resolve stilled her heart, she felt something else there too. It was warm and gentle, sturdy and strong, and it spread to fill her up.</p><p>The shadow hit her again, only instead of tossing her back like Kendra, it breaks apart. There is no sickening snap or rag doll body, Nile stands strong and watches as it reforms across from her. </p><p>They observe each other for a moment. Time is still, silent, and Nile feels judged. It’s weird feeling to her, for unlike the judgements tossed at her by strangers, the shadow appears to be finding her worthy, not wanting.</p><p>A shout breaks the moment, and strange words fill the air as the shadow flees. Suddenly there are strong arms coming around her. Sirens fill the air, as paramedics come to take her and Kendra away. A card is slipped into her pocket with a promise of answers. </p><p>Nile is seven the first time she experiences Magic, it isn’t the last time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>All magic comes down 3 things: Power, Will, and Connection.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Power is the fuel, it exists in the world, in places, in people. It gathers where it can grow and withers if abandoned. Always with rhyme and reason, just rarely the same or consistent ones. </span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Nile’s best friend has been in the hospital for 2 days.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Momma tells her the doctors say everything will be alright. Kendra was young and doing really well. She’ll make a full recovery. The police assume it was a car. Nile doesn’t trust them enough to argue. Kendra doesn’t remember what happened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead she looks at the card. It’s for a bookstore down the block. Momma seems almost happy when Nile asks to go there. Says they can buy something for Kendra to read while she recovers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So Nile is allowed to wander the shelves while Momma has some tea by the door. She is near the back when Bayleigh and Ivan approach her. They whisper promises to explain, quickly reassure it was real. Bayleigh had banished the shadow, it would not return.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She visits again and again, meets Hugh and Zari, and learns the story of their little group. It must be the Magic that brought them all here, for it is too rare an occurrence to be mere chance. Hugh’s family has passed down stories for years. Ivan has a ‘knack’ for always ending up in the middle of messes. Zari and Bayleigh keep quiet about the specifics, but Nile can tell Magic gathers around them too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time Kendra is released from the hospital Nile is a regular at the bookstore.  </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Will is the act. It is when the magic is used and makes itself present in the world. It is the person who works their will on the world around them, the sanctuary places can achieve, and aura of items passed down in time. </p><hr/><p>Nile is eleven and her Dad is dead. </p><p>Mom sends her to therapy, tells her she is strong and holds her and her brother close. </p><p>Nile has learned a lot about magic in the last few years. She knows she can sense it being used and the lingering effects. She knows she can’t get it to do anything directly herself. She knows it is a rare and precious connection.</p><p>This means she also knows it can’t bring back the dead, not really. It has brought back bodies, shadows, and echos. But there is no record of a person, whole and okay brought back. So she doesn’t even try.</p><p>Corporal Freeman wanted his kids to fight, but only for worthy causes. He made sure she knew if he didn’t come back her mother and brother should be that cause.</p><p>So Nile goes to therapy, and it’s hard. Then it starts to help. She can look to her mother for support and strength and then lend that strength to her brother. Nile <em>does the work</em> to heal. It leaves her with a desire to embrace the world, not shy from it.</p><p>Part of that is her relationship with magic. It seems she will never be able to harness it directly. However everywhere Nile finds it the world is so much more vibrant and complex. She dives into not just knowing it academically, but learning how fits into the world. Magic is a nebulous thing, driven to match and work with the environment it’s in. It seems to have its own mind, or minds since it appears to be not one thing but many.</p><p>As time passes Nile explores her city more deeply than ever before. Falls in love at museums with art and craftsmanship. Can see the different magics still attached to ancient artifacts. She takes the leap to really explore her faith. Finds that same warmth and protection in prayer that the kindest magics hold. Nile’s faith is only reforced, and while she wouldn’t say hers must be the only true religion, her God exists and it brings her comfort.</p><p>Through it all Nile comes to understand how the magic of the city is just coming into itself. It is a spring, a melting pot, magics of the past and present merging into something unique. Nile knows she isn’t the center of it, but that it is connected to her. She sometimes feels that warmth in her chest, like the city’s magic is proud of her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Connection is the language of magic. Born of culture, tradition, ritual, it guides the magic. Connection creates the rules, the methods, and the hows of Magic works. The Connection gives Power to Will and without nothing will occur.</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Nile is a Marine and travels for the first time. Sometimes she feels it, sees it, or just knows that Magic is there. It’s a warmth centered in her chest. It feels different then back home, like meeting a distant relative only heard of before. There is an underlying feeling that it recognizes and respects her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It fascinates her. Art especially is more beautiful when she can feel how it connects to the world. The hardest part of knowing about magic is knowing how few people she can talk to about it. Her friends from the bookstore are her favorite pen pals for that reason, and she’s them letters with gusto.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile loves the world and the impact she is having on it. She travels between deployments, and visits new friends while seeing and experiencing as much as possible. Loves going along narrow streets with the local shops and just knowing some can hold truth to their superstitions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s one of the more curious things she’s realized. Consistency is difficult to achieve, and many people will only ever experience success once. There are maybe a handful in each tradition that have a real skill, the needed knowledge, and the gifts to repeat their actions and have the desired result. They all also seem to want to be friends with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile has a ‘knack’ for interacting with others, and this is amplified with those of a magical nature. She’s had more free tea and pastries than she can count at this time. All from following where her feet are pulled to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile ends up deployed in Afghanistan, and feels the warmth leave her as she dies.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nile was alive, but she didn’t really feel the warmth anymore. She couldn’t tell if it was gone, somehow lost in exchange for survival. That abandonment echoed all the rejection she could see around base, making it cut all the deeper.</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>The plane rocks as Nile tries to make sense of this woman </span>
  <em>
    <span>who just shot her</span>
  </em>
  <span>. At least she could try and get some answers, “So why is this happening to me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wish I knew.” Or not.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You said you had answers.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t say you’d like them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile couldn’t help but shake her head. She hadn’t thought the world could get weirder but it always seemed to find a way. Bowing her head Nile decided it would be good to center herself. Prayer is a familiar ritual, it will help bring some peace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you praying?” The question followed by a soft laugh from Andy breaks her concentration. “God doesn’t exist.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My God does.” Nile snaps back at her. She takes another breath, if this was going to be one of </span>
  <em>
    <span>those</span>
  </em>
  <span> conversations she would need it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, there was a time when I was worshiped as a god.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It felt like a brag. Nile got the feeling Andy wasn’t messing her. The other woman might honestly be trying to impress her. Then came the next sharp comment and Nile decided she needed to stop trying to understand this woman, it was giving her emotional whiplash. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The conversation continued and she just felt her hackles keep rising. There had to be some explanation. She tried to rationalize it in her head. Magics thought of and dismissed before voicing the more outlandish mundane possibilities out loud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Andy seemed to take some pity on her. Pointing up she said, “You already believe in…You should just keep following that illogic. You’re already on board with the supernatural. If I were you, I’d get some sleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nile learned young she needed to accept true things and it looked like she was going to have to add this to the list. So much of it came down to trusting her gut. Andy was right, if Nile could accept everything else she’s seen, she could accept this. At least the not dying bit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rest….she was a Marine, and not interested in joining up elsewhere. Which meant making a plan, looking at her sleeping companion an idea began to form…</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>It didn’t work, but as Nile took Andy’s hand to stand she felt a bit of warm pride in her chest. It was barely there, but it was real. </span>
</p>
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